Monday, May 05, 2014

by digby

Mark Liebovich on the nerd prom:

"Basically, this is just part of the disconnect between the self-celebration of Washington and the revulsion that people outside of it feel for the major institutions here, i.e. the media, i.e. Democrats, Republicans, Congress, lobbyists, whatever. And the disconnect between incredible prosperity and wealth and, frankly, decadence that has grown up here in the last couple of decades, and the very real economic struggles that the country has had in the last six years."

This thing has been inappropriate for longer than that. Aside from the classic moment when Stephen Colbert harshed their mellow, I always think back to the one that happened the big run up to the Iraq war:

(Notice he left out the two biggest hits: "Crazy Train" and "War Pigs.")

That was when I knew we had totally lost the thread --- 9/11 had just happened, we attacked Afghanistan and we were clearly gearing up for a major military adventure in the middle east. The media was in a state of overwhelming agitation 24/7. And this White House Correspondence Dinner spectacle happened right in the middle of it all. Tragedy fell directly into farce.